Do fleas reproduce while feeding on human blood? Normally, Ctenocephalides felis does not feed on human blood and are known parasites of dogs and cat sometimes rodents. Cat fleas will jump on people when they need a host or if they are not getting enough blood.
However, female cat fleas will not be able to reproduce on humans if they do not take a blood meal for hours. This was something that was put to test in a lab setting and not elsewhere.
Every flea species has a preferred host. Once they deviate from their choice host, it becomes extremely difficult for them to reproduce or for the females to be fertile.
Can fleas live on human blood?
C. felis that has been given no other choice but to feed on humans can survive on that new diet. They are only able to survive for a maximum 185 days. Also, they need to feed for fifteen minutes every day. If a male feeds for a stretch of ten minutes on a human each day, they will live for seventeen days. A female will live for thirty days.
According to a study, fleas can subsist on human blood for over two months and if it is C.felis they will live longer if dog or cat hair is also in their environment.
How fleas reproduce on human blood
If cat fleas can feed on human blood for fifteen minutes for twelve consecutive days, female fleas can get fertile and lay eggs. Female C. canis will be fertile enough after twelve hours of taking blood from people.
Due to the fact that it is harder for fleas to reproduce on human blood, the number of eggs they can lay is exponentially less. Female cat fleas lay maximum of thirty eggs each day on animal blood but it is exponentially reduced to four eggs after three days on human blood.
Fleas and humans co-existing in an environment
In the end, cat fleas feed on human blood but they do not stay stuck on them as they would attach to animals, rather they feed for few minutes and drop off.
Every flea is adapt to survive in a furry animal and less on a smooth haired human, they have microscopic hairs covering their whole bodies.
People only experience flea bites when they have pets infested with fleas and when fleas break out from their protective cocoons, they attack any mammal available before dropping off in search of a more suitable host.